And you think you have a bad job?

[gsh]

Top 10 Worst Jobs in Science:

1. Human Lab Rat
2. Manure Inspector
3. Kansas Biology Teacher
4. Extremophile Excavators
5. Nuclear Weapons Scientist
6. Volcanologists
7. Semen Washer
8. Do-Gooder
9. NASA Ballerina
10. Orangutan-Pee Collector

Full story here

Comments

[sihaya09.livejournal.com]

NASA ballerina?

[gsh]

Give him an "A" for effort. Earlier this year NASA robot scientist Vladimir Lumelsky unveiled a revolutionary "skin" that will allow robots to sense the presence of astronauts and to move out of the way so that nobody gets hurt. Lumelsky's skin is being developed to assist in NASA's future space-exploration plans—trips that will rely heavily on robots. The current skin uses 1,000 infrared sensors to detect moving objects and then relays the data to the robot's "brain," which instantly signals the robot to skedaddle. Lumelsky envisions future skins with tens of thousands of infrared sensors able to withstand the extreme heat, cold and radiation of space travel. It's serious science, and Lumelsky, being a serious man, gave nary a thought to the fact that his prototype robot bears a striking resemblance to a giant phallus.

[sihaya09.livejournal.com]

And yet I still don't get how that has anything to do with ballerinas?

[gsh]

Oops, my bad, I didn't cut and paste correctly. The link doesn't work for me, but it explains the ballerina part.

For the 'bot's public debut he hired a leotard-clad ballerina to dance with it (see for yourself:www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/mpeg/115084main_ballerina.mpeg). "It takes two to tango," Lumelsky e-mailed us, somewhat exasperated. "The astronaut must be able to turn his back to the robot and expect it to act adequately, like a dance partner. Our system does this; no other such systems exist.